The Adventurers League (AL) is the organized play program for the popular roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons. The program offers a structured and cohesive gaming experience for both players and Dungeon Masters (DMs), and provides opportunities to connect with other players and DMs locally, at conventions, and online.
The D&D AL is the latest iteration of a long line of organized play programs for D&D, with roots dating back to the creation of the Role Playing Game Association (RPGA) in 1980. The RPGA played a key role in promoting role-playing games and bringing players from various locations together for tournaments and conventions. Its focus on TSR's most popular games, such as AD&D, provided players with unique experiences that could only be found at RPGA events.
Due to its popularity, the living campaigns concept eventually overshadowed traditional RPGA tournaments and conventions. One of the most well-known living campaigns was the Living Greyhawk campaign, which ran from 2000 to 2008 using 3rd edition D&D rules. In 2008, Wizards of the Coast launched the last official living campaign, Living Forgotten Realms, which used 4th edition D&D and ran until 2014.
While some living campaigns allowed organized play in stores Wizard's launched the D&D Delve Night program in 2008, which eventually became D&D Encounters, aimed at friendly local game stores for 4th edition D&D.
At the end of 4th edition's publishing run D&D Encounters would feature content for both 4th edition and D&D Next (5th edition), both sharing the same storyline. This continued from Season 11: War of Everlasting Darkness through Season 16: Legacy of the Crystal Shard. It's also interesting to note that seasons 14-16 featured D&D 3.5 conversions as well, in an attempt to lure back 3rd edition players, many of whom skipped 4th edition due to its drastic changes. D&D Encounters lasted for 20 seasons with the last two falling under Wizards of the Coasts new organized play program the D&D Adventurers League.
In addition to D&D Encounters & D&D Expeditions there was also D&D Epics, made specifically to be played at conventions, these were adventures that were so large in scale that it took numerous tables of players to complete it. Over the years these adventures scaled with the level of characters in AL and some were spread across all 4 tiers of play, level 1-4, 6-10, 11-16, and 17+ to make some truly Epic adventures. All three of these adventure types together might sound like a living campaign and the AL was almost was called the Living Moonsea, but the program was setup to span more than a single campaign and more than one campaign world.
Most of these programs and adventure types are still around today although how they are presented may have changed. Over the years many smaller initiatives have come and gone within the league, such as the Facebook and G+ groups, the local coordinators program, DM Rewards, Fai Chen’s Fantastical Faire, Convention Creation Content, factions, and the AL’s own website, but some have stayed, such as at-home play, on-line play, Liar’s Night, Dungeoncraft, and the increasing role of some convention organizers (AKA Baldman Games and Gameholecon) plus the D&D Virtual Weekends all of which will be touched on in future articles. The addition of new initiatives as others fall away is also seen in the comings and goings of AL admins and Wizards liaisons as different people have different views and desires for the program over the intervening years which we’ll discuss in future columns.
In addition to the living campaign style organized play TSR and Wizards of the Coast offered also offered additional organized play events over the years such as D&D Open Championship, Free RPG Day, Dungeons & Dragons gamedays, monthly Lair Assaults, and others.
To keep up with the D&D Adventurers League they have a blog at that Yawning Portal subdomain of the D&D site: Blog | Wizards of the Coast
Living Campaigns
One of the organization's most innovative concepts was the introduction of "living campaigns" with Living City in 1987. This allowed players to create persistent characters and advance them through a series of events at conventions, fostering a sense of community and shared experience among players.Due to its popularity, the living campaigns concept eventually overshadowed traditional RPGA tournaments and conventions. One of the most well-known living campaigns was the Living Greyhawk campaign, which ran from 2000 to 2008 using 3rd edition D&D rules. In 2008, Wizards of the Coast launched the last official living campaign, Living Forgotten Realms, which used 4th edition D&D and ran until 2014.
While some living campaigns allowed organized play in stores Wizard's launched the D&D Delve Night program in 2008, which eventually became D&D Encounters, aimed at friendly local game stores for 4th edition D&D.
D&D Encounters
This weekly program was designed to provide players with a casual and consistent way to play D&D in a local game store. Each session of D&D Encounters featured a portion of an adventure that was intended to be completed in a single session. These adventures were designed to be easy to learn and fun to play, making them a great introduction to the game for new players.At the end of 4th edition's publishing run D&D Encounters would feature content for both 4th edition and D&D Next (5th edition), both sharing the same storyline. This continued from Season 11: War of Everlasting Darkness through Season 16: Legacy of the Crystal Shard. It's also interesting to note that seasons 14-16 featured D&D 3.5 conversions as well, in an attempt to lure back 3rd edition players, many of whom skipped 4th edition due to its drastic changes. D&D Encounters lasted for 20 seasons with the last two falling under Wizards of the Coasts new organized play program the D&D Adventurers League.
D&D Adventurers League
The D&D Adventurers League was announced in 2014 and along with it the six admins that would run it with Chris Tulach from Wizards of the Coast as their main point of contact. Full Disclosure: I was one of the admins for the first four years of the D&D Adventurers League. The first campaign season the AL had a hand in was Season 19: Hoard of the Dragon Queen. The early years of the AL were focused on creating a coherent and consistent experience for players with the same theme as the concurrently released hardcover adventure for D&D. The first season of adventures, called the "Tyranny of Dragons," was primarily set in the Moonsea region of the Forgotten Realms and featured a series of interconnected quests that players could playthrough, called D&D Expeditions.In addition to D&D Encounters & D&D Expeditions there was also D&D Epics, made specifically to be played at conventions, these were adventures that were so large in scale that it took numerous tables of players to complete it. Over the years these adventures scaled with the level of characters in AL and some were spread across all 4 tiers of play, level 1-4, 6-10, 11-16, and 17+ to make some truly Epic adventures. All three of these adventure types together might sound like a living campaign and the AL was almost was called the Living Moonsea, but the program was setup to span more than a single campaign and more than one campaign world.
Most of these programs and adventure types are still around today although how they are presented may have changed. Over the years many smaller initiatives have come and gone within the league, such as the Facebook and G+ groups, the local coordinators program, DM Rewards, Fai Chen’s Fantastical Faire, Convention Creation Content, factions, and the AL’s own website, but some have stayed, such as at-home play, on-line play, Liar’s Night, Dungeoncraft, and the increasing role of some convention organizers (AKA Baldman Games and Gameholecon) plus the D&D Virtual Weekends all of which will be touched on in future articles. The addition of new initiatives as others fall away is also seen in the comings and goings of AL admins and Wizards liaisons as different people have different views and desires for the program over the intervening years which we’ll discuss in future columns.
In addition to the living campaign style organized play TSR and Wizards of the Coast offered also offered additional organized play events over the years such as D&D Open Championship, Free RPG Day, Dungeons & Dragons gamedays, monthly Lair Assaults, and others.
The Future of Organized Play
Organized play has always been an ever-shifting part of D&D, sometimes TSR or Wizards is very hands on, while other times they barely seemed to realize it was there. Regardless of where they are, we’ll be covering up to the minute changes, delves into the history of D&D organized play, and reviewing current or old organized play rules and content in this column.To keep up with the D&D Adventurers League they have a blog at that Yawning Portal subdomain of the D&D site: Blog | Wizards of the Coast
